For the hockey-obsessed country of Canada, the 2010 Winter Olympics were a historical “must win.” Anything but gold would be considered a failure, and many Canadians felt that a glorious win on home soil was simply destined or fated. The Nike Brand took the contrary position: we don’t rely on destiny, we guarantee victory through hard work and training. That brash idea of “forcing fate” served as the central theme in a year-long dialogue created with hockey-obsessed teens and, more broadly, all Canadians.

To reach Canadian hockey fans and, more specifically, Canada’s hockey-obsessed teens, the campaign spoke to them everywhere from on the ice to on their Facebook pages. Months prior to the games, a content piece was released on YouTube and Nike Training’s homepage to seed the campaign. Rink board postings, wall vinyls and retail posters carrying the Force Fate messaging complemented the content piece. Upon the announcement of which athletes had made the Olympic teams, TV, digital banners and a YouTube takeover began to build anticipation. The campaign reached full force on Nike Training’s Facebook Fan page (www.facebook.com/niketraining), which provided Nike’s unique POV, real-time event and athlete updates, and multiple applications that enabled fan interaction and conversation. The shareability of these applications facilitated the campaign’s proliferation. During the games, brand and user-generated messages were projected in the real-world epicenter of the games in the largest outdoor wall projections ever in the city of Vancouver, and on online banners and retail, providing instant and integrated messaging.

Blending traditional, digital and social media with provocative, cohesive messaging, the campaign was a tremendous integrated success. Timely commentary was synced online, in massive outdoor projections and in retail. The Facebook fan page grew by over 300% by providing compelling content and innovative opportunities for fans to interact and express their excitement and pride over the course of Canada’s historic Olympic showing. Fans were so immersed in the campaign that they adopted Force Fate language in their online dialogue. Outdoor projections in Vancouver received more than 20 million impressions. In total, the campaign led to the most successful launch ever of a Nike team jersey.